MORE ON THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

I have now received two separate positive references to this prestigious body, one from my PHD candidate (Biology) daughter and the other indirectly from President Obama's political interference with a long overdue and unreleased Assessment of Trichloroethylene by the U.S. EPA. As per my September 1/11 posting here in the Elmira Advocate I am still reading their report titled "Contaminants in the Subsurface: Source Zone Assessment and Remediation". This lengthy document goes to great lengths to advise of the perils of starting remediation prematurely ie. prior to having a solid geological and hydrogeological understanding of the extent and magnitude of contamination present. This series of chapters also does not mince words as to the difficulties involved with remediating DNAPL sites but seems to emphasize that formerly traditional pump and treat (hydraulic containment) is not remotely up to the task. The authors believe that intensive delineation first followed by a careful program mix of various source remediation technologies is the way to go. Personally I feel that the over reliance on pump and treat and it's alleged low upfront costs have tilted far too many managers of contaminated sites into using this inadequate methodology. Here in Elmira we have wasted twenty years plus and have allowed if not induced further spreading into deeper aquifers by the reliance on pump and treat. Source removal was and is totally appropriate here in Elmira. CPAC recognized this and unanimously approved the July 2003 Request For Action which demanded source removal including DNAPLS. Since that time CPAC lost it's way and dishonestly pretended otherwise with only one CPAC member (Ron Ormson) having the courage of his convictions and publicly stating his opposition to source removal. While I disagreed (publicly) with him at CPAC about this, I did respect his upfront honesty, contrary to his colleagues who would stickhandle around the issue.